Sure it has much smaller apertures, but I rarely shoot wide open anyway, while the 18-140 is often very close to the max sharpness at its widest apertures along the FLs.

I compared it to a number of other lenses, included the 17-50mm (Nikkor much more consistent in sharpness and sharper in some FLs), the old 50mm ƒ/1.8D (slightly sharper, much better ad widest apertures) and the 17-70mm (sometimes a tie, but overall better and more reach on tele).

It's even sharper than the old (kept!) D300 with Sigma 18-35mm (A). It means a lot.

Is it a better lens overall? It is to me, though I'll miss the 17-50mm @ 50mm ƒ/3.2 when shooting indoor portraits at ISO 4000.